Outstanding Plan
KC Spirit Playbook
The KC Spirit Playbook is Kansas City, Missouri's new comprehensive plan. Adopted in April 2023, the Playbook is an innovative plan that moves the city forward and is the product of extensive public engagement. Building equity into every aspect of the KC Spirit Playbook was an innovative approach to planning in our region. Prioritizing diversity and inclusion guided the plan’s vision and set its goals, and the Playbook’s recommendations are grounded in lifting all Kansas Citians.
Originality and Innovation
The Playbook planning process pushed the city’s public engagement practices beyond the standard format. The arrival of COVID-19 required a new, primarily online public engagement strategy. The final plan is also a technological step forward as it is a user-friendly, web-based plan. The online Implementation Dashboard is a publicly available tool that will make plan implementation trackable, transparent, and accessible, therefore increasing community understanding and participation. Staff are also leveraging new technology to increase coordination and communication between city departments for implementation projects.
Engagement
Stakeholders from across all of Kansas City's diverse communities participated in the creation of the Playbook. City departments, regional agencies, local EDC and other organizations, neighborhood groups, small business owners, and many more all helped to create a forward-thinking plan that will elevate Kansas City as a national example of quality comprehensive planning.
The Playbook’s Public Engagement Committee advised staff on creating an equitable public engagement process that included an online engagement platform, hundreds of virtual and in-person presentations, targeted in-person surveying in areas with less online participation, student engagement, and the use of many non-online methods to raise awareness of the plan. The Empowerment Committee also helped staff to ensure that community voices were amplified in writing the plan.
Role of Planners
Primarily, AICP-certified planners employed by the city drove the KC Spirit Playbook process. These planners have considerable experience working with Kansas Citians through past planning initiatives and were able to leverage connections with neighborhood groups and other stakeholders to increase awareness and participation in the planning process. An interdisciplinary group made up the outside consultant team, with many specializing in equity, housing, transportation, and engagement.
The Playbook process was a reintroduction to comprehensive planning for the city and required incorporating educational pieces to ensure the public understood the basics. Staff regularly reported community feedback and potential recommendations to the public to facilitate a cyclical, informative partnership between planners and the public. Kansas Citians were able to see the impact they can have on the long-term growth of their city and in their own neighborhood.
Implementation
Ongoing planning efforts in Kansas City over many years have fostered a community of engaged residents and made clear the most prominent issues facing the city. The Playbook public engagement process built on that existing support for good planning practices and expanded those conversations to create the plan’s recommendations. Implementation of the Playbook will be tracked on user-friendly, web-based tools. Implementation will also include additional public engagement to establish implementation priorities and keep these groups engaged with the process for many years to come.
Effectiveness
The long-term impacts of the Playbook’s recommendations will positively impact the quality of life of Kansas Citians. Enhanced development guidelines in the Playbook will ensure that quality development occurs equitably citywide. The city will foster complete communities that have easy access to jobs and services; better prepare for the impacts of climate change and new technologies; and protect the things that make Kansas City unique like its historic character and easy mobility. Guidance from the Playbook will expand access to quality housing of many different types and price points through new funding mechanisms and removing barriers in the development code.
Connect West Plains Comprehensive Plan
The Connect West Plains Comprehensive Plan serves as a guide for the identification and implementation of West Plains' unified vision for its future. It builds upon the community's values and points West Plains in the direction of its shared goals using a variety of tactics.
Originality and Innovation
The plan integrates specific, tailored, mixed land uses into a future land use framework. There was a desire to integrate mixed land uses into West Plains. The existing code includes a downtown district with vague regulations, making it difficult to implement. During public engagement, the project team also learned the community draws from surrounding communities for youth sports and attractions because West Plains is the largest city in its region. Four specific, themed, mixed-use districts were developed as future land use categories to help the community achieve its vision for future development: Entertainment, Downtown Revitalization, Health and Wellness, and University. This new approach integrates subarea planning concepts directly into the traditional land use categories.
Through a robust engagement process (multi-day charrette, pop-up event, open houses [virtual and in-person], etc.), iterative concepts were developed that introduced new—and unique to West Plains—planning solutions. The process allowed multiple touchpoints with the community, stakeholders, and city staff to achieve consensus (and excitement!). In a city of West Plains’ size (12,000 people), a specialized combination of mixed land uses was adopted and now guides the city’s development.
Engagement
Various public interests were involved in the planning process. Specific committees formed included: the Comprehensive Plan Stakeholder Committee – comprised of a representative cross-section of community members; the Technical Committee – comprised of city staff members; the Business and Development Committee, which included business owners and developers; and the Youth Committee – an enthusiastic group of West Plains High School students.
Role of Planners
The planners on this project were responsible for project management, public engagement event coordination/facilitation, existing conditions analysis, recommendation and implementation strategy development, and development of the complete plan. Throughout the process, the project team empowered Plan champions who now are ready to begin additional planning projects, including a downtown plan. “Working collaboratively with a cross-section of community representatives, we worked diligently to layout a comprehensive plan that would assist in the city’s future growth. Ultimately the plan ensures that we continue to focus on improving the quality of life for the residents of West Plains.” (Stakeholder)
Effectiveness
The Plan’s vision has been adopted and vetted by staff, elected officials, residents, stakeholders, civic groups, and organizations through a vigorous engagement process. Our process energized the community members, providing a fresh lens to view their community through; we gave them new ideas. A true sense of motivation was developed. The final plan presents detailed, personalized implementation strategies.
